Wrapping them Up
Logitech has really focused on the gaming market with some pretty solid products. It does not look like they are simply applying marketing labels, but are actually doing quite a bit of science to increase the efficacy of their products when it comes to this application. Headphones are a very competitive market with thousands of products to choose from at a huge variety of price points. Logitech has gotten very aggressive in pricing their products so that they appeal to the average gamer who may or may not have a tremendous amount of financial backing for their purchases.
The volume wheel and mute button are easy to find and adjust. Just hit that mute and say, "McKay to command" just for kicks.
The G230 is a solid, but uninspiring entry level product. For $40 US it offers a nice tradeoff of functionality for a low price. Gaming audio is very good considering that price, but music and movies take a back seat. Users might improve their experience by investing in a much more expensive sound card and potentially an external amplifier, but do not expect miracles. The design is good, the colors should not turn too many people off, and the price is right. $40 just is not a whole lot of cash to spend on a piece of equipment that will likely last several years through daily use. I think the build quality of the G230 will allow it to be used as such. I have let my children abuse them for several months and they still work and fit like they should.
The Dolby Headphone functionality can be adjusted through these volume sliders to maximize the surround experience for individual users.
The G35 is a different beast altogether. The USB and Gaming software give this a leg up in terms of pure functionality, but that is not the entire story. Logitech has tuned the performance of these headphones much more tightly than the G230, and it shows with the overall sound reproduction quality. It was above average in gaming performance, and good in both music and movie playback. These are not audiophile headphones and should not be confused as such. They are clean and moderately transparent and are not a distraction in any of the usage scenarios that I have covered.
Changing voice effects can be accomplished here. This can be of limited functionality in games, but it is a fun and cheap gimmick that can generate a few laughs.
Logitech is serious about gaming. It is a market that is rapidly expanding, far faster than nearly any other media type around. The G35 is natively supported in multiple consoles if a user so desires that usage case. The G230 is a solid entry-level headset with good build quality and solid gaming performance. For double the price of the G230 a user gets a much better experience and far greater control over their audio.
The G35 earns the Gold Award for a combination of quality, features, and affordability
is this a new model of the
is this a new model of the g35? ive had this headset for about 5 years now.
Looks much the same as the
Looks much the same as the original. Obviously the packaging has changed, but I will check and see if there are differences or revisions.
Me too. Terrible twist on
Me too. Terrible twist on the cable that was impossible to avoid. Caused all sorts of metal fatigue. Never again.
I have the G930 which looks
I have the G930 which looks identical to the G35 except it is wireless. It can be found easily for $100 so I dunno why you wouldn’t spend the little bit extra to lose the wire. Battery life is very good and of course if it does die you can always plug it in and keep using it.
I would of course be curious
I would of course be curious to hear if there are any differences in audio quality going with a battery/wireless unit vs. wired USB? As mentioned in this article there is a big difference between their pure analog version and the USB based.
I cannot say for the USB
I cannot say for the USB based version but I have the 930 and the wireless versions audio is pretty good. I’m no audiophile so it works for me quite well. The only negative is that the battery life is never as good as the application says it will and occasionally I’ll get crack noises and such from the wireless.
I can’t compare the sound
I can’t compare the sound quality to the wired version since I don’t have it, but I will say the 930 sounds very good to me. No complaints in the slightest.
To expand on this, I assume
To expand on this, I assume the 930 gets the exact same digital audio stream as the G35 so any potential differences in sound quality would likely come from the speakers themselves. I also suspect that the speakers are identical but have no way to prove that.
I’m thinking more about the
I'm thinking more about the bandwidth of a wired vs. wireless solution. Do we see downsampling on the wireless side due to potentially lower bandwidth?
I’ve had both the G35 and the
I’ve had both the G35 and the G930 after the right earcup broke. I’ve noticed that there seems to be less overall power in the G930 compared to the G35, and people whom I talk to using the microphone said the quality was a bit lower. It’s still good, but if you want a better quality sound and microphone, go with the G35.
I’ve had both the G35 and the
I’ve had both the G35 and the G930 after the right earcup broke. I’ve noticed that there seems to be less overall power in the G930 compared to the G35, and people whom I talk to using the microphone said the quality was a bit lower. It’s still good, but if you want a better quality sound and microphone, go with the G35.
Have owned the G230’s for
Have owned the G230’s for about a year or more and the ear cups definitely feel hard at first before they gradually sink on your ears. Not uncomfortable though, more awkward at first.
Being my first headset/mic combo I’m not sure if this is normal or not, but out the box it was practically useless without going into your audio configuration and adding a +10db gain. Then people could actually hear me, but at the cost of having this very low static in the background. Any further increase in gain made the static on your end very annoying.
I’m not sure if this is normal of all Headset Mic combos or not. If it is then disregard my lack of knowledge on the subject, but if not then you might want to think twice unless you’re really budget minded. They’re great for the price, but the mic gain part can get super annoying. You don’t really have a choice either since the default +0db gain makes you pretty much unhearable to anyone on Steam/Skype from my testing.
In my review I did mention
In my review I did mention how poorly the built-in mic for the G230s fared in our testing. While people on Skype on the other end heard me fine, the quality was just sub-par.
Oh that’s why you don’t sound
Oh that’s why you don’t sound as good in the podcast as Ryan 😉
I really should get a nice
I really should get a nice desk mic soon…
We must hear your laughter
We must hear your laughter and inappropriate comments in their full glory
How does the quality compare
How does the quality compare to other headphones in its price range. (how much quality are you giving up to the gamer tax?)
While are the mics always so horrible on these headsets.
Gaming headsets are rarely ever worth even a quarter of their price. The build quality is often lower, most of the parts are non user replaceable. They often use enamel coated wires in the ear cups (thus shortening the life of the headphone by allowing earcup fled to eventually break the wire. Companies use enamel coating instead of individual insulators as solid core copper wire breaks too quickly, but stranded wire does not break soon enough, so they use enamel which eventually rubs off and shorts, thus causing the device to fail more quickly.
Overall, it is best to invest in a proper desktop mic, and then get a good pair of headphones. A quality desktop mic such as the Blue yeti, audio technica at2020, audio technica ATR2500, rode NT-USB, all give very good quality, and best of all, you can upgrade to what ever headphone you want without worrying about the microphone.
The microphones in most gaming headsets, are some of the lowest quality mics possible. Really, why does the mic on a $200 gaming headset such as the sennheiser g4me series, sound worst than a $3 mic made by Zalman? (that is not even an audio company)
Gaming headset mics just suck, and they tack on a massive price premium just to essentially throw in a cheap mic.
G4me zero: https://youtu.be/6JBbGLDRVVw?t=434
Logitech G230: https://youtu.be/BhnMVUe_X2I?t=62
Logitech G35: https://youtu.be/DFyW7_glgRA?t=251
Zalman ZM-mic 1: https://youtu.be/yZSZcgiHeyA?t=37
Mics like that are cheap, and
Mics like that are cheap, and the beancounters at Logi probably ask themselves how many people actually need a high quality mic while screaming over Vent or Teamspeak? As mentioned in my article, Plantronics seems to put good quality mics in even their lower end products.
Illustrates the background
Illustrates the background noise on the G230 perfectly. At least some of the other mics sound more clear despite the drastically higher price.
I’ve had a pair of the G35s
I’ve had a pair of the G35s for around 5 years now. They were originally wired USB. Mine are still kicking, but the cheap vinyl covering over the foam earpieces have long disintegrated. Are they still using that cheap paper thin vinyl wrap?
The covering on the earpieces
The covering on the earpieces feels fairly thick. Certainly not paper thin. When I get home from work I will check it out a bit further.
Any recommendation for true
Any recommendation for true 5.1 or 7.1 headsets?
None? I have messed with
None? I have messed with some other multi-speaker headsets, and none of them were overly impressive. I would rather have a clean set of 2 channel headphones.
If you wanted a air of
If you wanted a air of headphones with microphone which had good sound for music (not rap, I said music) including rock as well as gaming, how much would I need to spend to get into the “good” and “very good” range?
I would like a pair which exclude outside noise so I can use them on flights to watch movies and listen to music including Queen, AC/DC and other 70s/80s/90s rock/popular music. Be very interested in your thoughts if you wouldn’t mind Josh..
Garry
Western Australia
Hmm, good questions. You
Hmm, good questions. You probably need to look in the $150 range for a good set that will have the sound quality you desire. The G35 is certainly a nice set, and they have some terrific sales going on. Another option that I like are the Corsair headsets. They have pretty balanced sound and good microphone quality.
Just a quick comment on the
Just a quick comment on the article: at the moment of writing this, the G35 are just $59.99 USD vs the $49.99 for the G230, so the “double the price” disadvantage of the G35 is gone for now. I was thinking of getting the G230 (got red+black PC) but I’m probably switching to the G35. Thanks for the review!